The Impossible
by HerosReprise
Summary: The Earth suffers a series of devastating natural disasters, altering the Earth's gravitational pull which leaves the Z-fighters powerless. No flying, no energy attacks, no I.T and no ki sensing. They have all been separated and must find a way back to each other, ALIVE. Can an unlikely heroine rise up and save genius Bulma Briefs, the earths best chance at restoration? GV TM
1. A Brief moment of Son

**_Synopsis:_**

_The Impossible:_ Inspired by the film, the Earth suffers a series of devastating natural disasters, altering the Earth's gravitational pull and magnetic field. This leaves the Z-fighters powerless.  
That's right, no flying, no energy attacks, no instant transmission and no ki sensing. They have all been separated and must find a way back to each other, ALIVE, before figuring out how to reverse the damages to their mother Earth.  
Can an unlikely Heroine rise up and save our genius Bulma, the Earth's best chance of restoration? Or is this something only the dragon balls will fix? Official pairings plus GV, TM and UB.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own DB/Z/GT, unfortunately.

* * *

_Where this story takes place: 5 years after the end of DBZ. Approx. ages of characters are; Goten 22, Trunks 23, Marron 19, Bulla and Uub 15, Pan 10, Gohan/Videl 33, Goku, Vegeta, Bulma and Chi-Chi all in their late 40s/early 50s. GT didn't happen._

* * *

**The Impossible**

Chapter One – A Brief moment of Son

* * *

It was a beautiful sun-shining day that filled the Z fighters with great promise in these peaceful times. The Son and Briefs families as well as the other members and friends of the Z fighter gang had gathered at another party planned by the illustrious Bulma Briefs.

It wasn't your regular birthday, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Easter or Boxing day that everyone had been gathered for. It wasn't even a celebration of the defeat of an earth threatening villain that was the cause for partying this afternoon at Capsule Corporation.

No, today was a gathering to celebrate the birth of the newest demi-Saiyan, Goku's first grandson and Gohan and Videl's second child.

Hale Son, almost a complete replica of a baby Gohan was being held tenderly by his mother for just one more moment before he would be passed around a crowd of cooing relatives and friends desperate to get their hands on the newest and cutest member of the Saiyan blood relatives.

Even though the child was now 2 months old and Chi-Chi and Hercule had already had many opportunities to hold the little monkey tailed boy, they couldn't help but be the first to surround Videl waiting for their turn.

"Oh, he is just so precious," Chi-Chi sighed as she cuddled him in close.

Gohan, who had his arms tenderly placed around Videl's waist, was feeling proud as his friends and family complimented him on the newest member of his little family.  
Little Hale was somewhat of a surprise to the couple who had originally been satisfied with just their young Pan and their comfortable life of three. The new addition however, seemed only to bring more joy into their lives, which they were both thankful for.

Chi-Chi was one of the more ecstatic of the Son family members, followed by her beloved husband Goku who relished the idea of another Super Saiyan to train. This thought process was soon shot down by Chi-Chi's disapproval, deciding another genius in the family was the only option.

Goten however, Goku and Chi-Chi's youngest child who had recently turned 22 was completely freaked out when Videl had announced her second pregnancy. Mainly because he was forced to look at his own life with a critical eye. He was already his big brothers age when he found out he would become a father for the_ first_ time. Goten wasn't married, nor was he anything close to being married a fact his mother felt necessary to pester him about often.

Goten never really kept a girlfriend longer than a few dates, truth be told he wasn't really all that fussed about it. He defined a girl he would want to be with as someone he could picture himself sharing the secrets of his hybrid race with and her completely being on board with it. Unsurprisingly that wasn't a large demographic of eligible females.

When little Hale was born however, Goten really fell in love with the adorable kid. He saw his big brother turned miniature in the little monster and had volunteered baby-sitting duties as often as he could. He was also particularly enjoying Pan's little jealousy outbreaks which were quite entertaining for him. His little niece being demoted from the pedestal of cutest Saiyan.

Goten and Pan arrived at the party slightly behind the rest, due to an emergency training session Pan held in order to let out all of her frustration before she would have to watch her new brother become the centre of attention.

"You're still my favourite niece Panny," Goten chuckled to the 10 year old.

"I'm your _only_ niece," she narrowed her eyes, and laughed.

After landing on the grounds of Capsule corp, the two relatives split ways, Pan went to find her good friend Uub and Goten searched for the familiar face of his lavender haired best buddy.

As much as he was copping the whole 'when are you going to get married and give me more grandbabies?' spiel from Chi-Chi, he felt consolidation that Trunks was most certainly getting it worse from Bulma. Especially since she had no grandchildren of her own to spoil as of yet and had to sit through her best friend live it up with two.

He chuckled as he found his way over to his best friend since birth in a section of the party space that was out of sight from Bulma's suggestive looks and the strange array of sexy female co-workers she had obviously invited in a disturbing attempt to encourage him.

"That baby is already causing trouble and it's a sixth of a year old," Trunks mumbled to Goten who knew exactly what he was feeling, the kid was driving the women baby crazy.  
Even big, bad and serious Piccolo looked as if he had softened to the mini Gohan when he was forced to hold him for a photo.

"Is that a smile?" Goten asked in disbelief as the corners of the Namek's lips curled slightly.

"God, next thing we know my dad will start to get clucky," Trunks chuckled.

* * *

Marron, the third member of the trio hurried over to the boys little corner as soon as the baby was being handed to her parents, "Oh god the embarrassment."

Goten and Trunks looked back over to Krillin obsessing over the little baby, like an elderly woman, making sure to get in at least 50 photos. They both laughed at her.

"Your dad seems like a really great _mom_," Goten laughed.

"Shut up," she scowled at him. She loved her dad, but let's face it, the man was _really_ embarrassing. He thought back to the times Marron had both Goten and Trunks over when they were younger teenagers and Krillin would continuously check up on them making sure there was no funny business going on. Just to stir him up the boys acted as if there was. Marron shuddered at the memory of her father trying to intimidate the teens who were taller, stronger and faster than he.

"Hey Marron, do me a favour and get knocked up. It'll really take the pressure off me for a few months," Trunks joked.

"How about no!" Marron held her hands up and swished her long blonde locks out of her face.

"How's your business going Mar?" Goten asked trying to steer some conversation away from the baby, after all it was all he was hearing about at home. He had thought a lot about moving out, but in all honestly, nothing good beat Chi-Chi's home cooking. And having Gohan and Pan live nearby, it was all he could really ask for.

"Not very well, I haven't found anyone who wants to publish my book. Little Hale may be the only kid who will ever get to read it," she sighed.

Marron was a talented artist who specialised in portraiture. She discovered her keen talent when she was around 15 years old and used to watch her mother sit completely still like a statue for hours on end.

She would try to paint her beautiful face, which wasn't too difficult as her skin tone was very even and her facial features perfect. It seemed so easy for her to capture on paper. With practice and then eventually a short TAFE course in fine arts, Marron had filled a nice studio with interesting paintings. They were excellent and she was not too modest to admit it, but they were difficult to sell, especially as an amateur artist.

After realising she needed to earn money another way she decided to get creative, that was her passion after all, and started illustrating and writing a children's book. The idea came to her when Videl had announced her pregnancy and Marron began thinking hard about a gift she could give. After writing her book, Marron had sought out something like 16 different publishing companies, but unfortunately none were interested.

Baby Hale would be the first, and possibly only, child to read her little picture book, but she hoped that she would eventually catch her break.

"Marron, just let me recommend you to _Panda Publishing_. One call from me and you'll have a book series contract," CEO of Capsule Corporation, Trunks Briefs suggested.

"Thanks Trunks, but some people like to know that their work is actually good. I don't want to make it just because I know some rich guy."

"Some rich guy huh?" he raised his eyebrow at her choice of words.

"Yep," she smiled at him mockingly. She was grateful he had offered to do that for her but she was a little more proud than she let on. She didn't like receiving handouts.  
"How's work for you anyway?" she asked Trunks.

"I'm swamped, I think I'm reaching breakdown point, and somehow Father thinks I have enough time to train and Mother thinks I have enough time to date. Honestly I'd just really like to sleep for like a week straight right about now," he sighed.

Trunks was dedicated to the company, he wanted to see its success and in his years being its CEO he had made some major successful business mergers and changes.

He simply hated the idea of losing himself on the one aspect of his life. As much as he complained about it, he did actually want to train, at least a little. He couldn't remember the last time he transformed into a super Saiyan, or fought seriously with someone. And he would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in dating. But the idea of finding someone who wasn't simply interested in his money, and could accept him for being, well a freak, seemed very daunting.

"Well it's nice you make time to see us buddy," Goten said, really appreciative he had managed to keep in contact with Trunks and Marron all these years. It was nice to be around people who accepted you for whatever weird, alien hybrid you really were. His two best friends were some of the only people he felt comfortable around.

"Yeah well if I get too weak I'll blame you guys," Trunks said.

Pan would probably surpass Trunks in strength if he wasn't careful. The little tyke was one of Goku's minions along with Uub training under him on a daily basis.

It had been decided that Uub was certainly the right guy to take the reigns as protector of the Earth after Goku and Vegeta were to pass away. Whilst the rest of the demi Saiyans were comfortable with this decision they were reminded not to use it as a ticket to slacken off.

Gohan, Goten and Trunks were vital members of the Z fighter team, and whilst they all seemed to get far more acquainted with their human lives in these times of peace, they were constantly reminded they must mentally prepare for a threat that may arise at any time.

"And, I couldn't get rid of you guys if I tried," Trunks laughed and scruffed some of Goten's hair even though the younger half-blood was a few inches taller than he, "Anyway, how's the brigade going Goten?"

Chi-Chi had not been successful in enticing her youngest son into the academic world, he scraped by in school and by the end of it had not received any college offers. He wasn't surprised, nor was he disappointed, he had his father's brain after all.

After his mother cried for several months over the idea that her son would become a lousy karate bum with no career prospect or dignity in the social world, Goten ironically had a genius idea. It came to him as he was walking home from West City after visiting the Briefs' mansion.

He noticed a domestic home on fire. Without thinking he had rushed in to save a family of 6 from the burning ruins before the fire truck could even arrive. The fire chief had offered him a job then and there and Goten gladly took it.

Goten knew the profession would be seen as heroic and most certainly dignified in the social world, so his mother would be happy. And he could gladly rescue people who he would have saved regardless and be payed a nice wage for it. Plus he didn't have to do it in a ridiculous costume.

In the chaos of a fire, humans didn't really have time to register that Goten had superhuman powers, which made the job perfect for him. He even went as far as offering Vegeta, Goku and 18 spots on the team if they were interested, Goku being the only one who accepted a couple of shifts.

"It's great actually," he grinned, "I even got dad to come along with me on a few shifts, well, mom forced him I guess."

"I'll bet the ladies love you, fireman Goten," Marron winked and elbowed him.

Goten scratched the back of his head, "I guess you could say that," he laughed sheepishly.

* * *

"Bulla, do you want to hold the baby?" Bulma asked her daughter as she held out her camera. Yamcha looked as if he really needed to trade little Hale off due to a potential dirty diaper. But Bulla clearly wasn't interested.

"Not now Mom!" she growled and gestured to the cell phone she was holding to her ear. She went back to her personal conversation, being quite anti-social which the group was used to. She was her father's daughter, pertaining his attitudes about almost everything, but she also had her mother's looks, temper and intellect. Overall it made for a very impressive and dangerous combination.

The girl was fierce to say the least, not one you would want to upset or inconvenience in any way. To be honest Marron and Goten were a little frightened of her, which was the way she liked it.

"Hello," she nodded to the two of them as she came and joined the little group after hanging up on her caller.

"H-How's it going Bulla?" Goten stammered.

"I'm fine thank you." She turned to Marron, "You can't wear those shoes out here, they don't match at all, plus the grass will ruin them," she barked at her.

Marron just stared dumbfounded and looked down at her favourite pink sandal heels.

"I saw those atrocities from my bedroom window and brought you these, you're welcome," Bulla scoffed.

Marron accepted the flat Keds and put them on reluctantly, it was a lot easier just to accept Bulla's fashion advice no matter how condescending it may be. The woman had a way of always being right.

She was 15 years old and already involved in the editing process of a major fashion magazine. Granted it was one Capsule Corp bought the rights for just so she could get her way, but still, it was impressive for a girl who was still in high school.

Bulla was actually under the impression Marron was a good friend of hers and that she had just completed a rather friendly gesture. I guess her father's lack of social perception must have also been genetic. Trunks just face-palmed slightly and waited for Bulla to leave.

She did, when she caught sight of Pan, the only person who actually got along with Bulla and was not afraid to put her in her place. This somehow allowed the younger girls a strange rival-like friendship. Whilst Bulla was certain Pan would never be as rich or pretty as she was, the idea that Pan was a better Saiyan in terms of strength and fighting ability annoyed her.

Bulla was the rightful Saiyan princess, and she believed it should be _her_ holding that glory. She had recently been taking extra training sessions from her father in hope to gain some extra progress on her younger friend. When she could fit it into her busy schedule, that is.

"I'm sorry about her," Trunks said to Marron who was still whining about her change in footwear.

"I'm sure she will grow out of it one day," Goten suggested.

"I'm not so sure, she's a little too spoilt for that," Trunks replied.

"You were spoilt but you turned out reasonably ok," Marron said.

He laughed at her snide remark, "But I was always having to work for Dad's attention and approval. He just gives it to her like it's nothing. She's had that man wrapped up in her perfectly manicured fingers since her birth. There's not really going to be anything she will ever need that she can't already get."

Marron didn't think that was true, Bulla would never find a guy worth dating if she was going to act like that. Sure she would probably marry someone rich, or impeccably handsome, but she doubted she would find someone who truly cared for the real her.

Trunks may be a target for gold diggers and superficial women, but he has heart. It's hard to believe anyone couldn't love him.

* * *

Pan politely dismissed herself from Uub's company and found her best friend Bulla.

"Hey B" she smiled largely.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Bulla huffed.

"Come on, we better get pictures with my brother," Pan said as she grabbed the heiresses wrist and dragged her in the direction of the public nappy change. She may have been somewhat jealous of Hale stealing all the attention, but she was still excited to finally have a sibling.

"Careful! This watch is expensive!" Bulla complained.

* * *

"Oh Chi-Chi, he really is a beautiful baby boy, I'm so happy for you and your family," Bulma said as the two women finally got a chance to sit and relax.

"I feel like it was only yesterday that that was Gohan you know?" Chi-Chi sighed, thinking back to the good old days of raising her babies.

The mothers enjoyed the peace, with smiles grazing their beautiful faces. Whilst they were fast approaching the brunt of middle age, they still managed to keep an element of beauty about them. Perhaps it was due to being married to muscle clad aliens who hardly aged at all, nevertheless Chi-Chi and Bulma worked hard to keep themselves healthy, trim and beautiful.

Videl of course was looking radiant, enjoying her time off work to care for her new bub. She sat down next to the other members of the 'Married to a Saiyan' club, finally holding her baby to herself again.

"I just can't believe how much he looks like Gohan," Bulma commented. It seemed a pattern that the second born child would resemble a parent almost perfectly.

"Isn't he the cutest," Videl cooed holding baby Hale to her face to rub her nose against his. He giggled at her giddy face and stared wide-eyed at his mommy, thrusting his chubby short arms out towards her.

"I hear there's a gathering of my people here," 18 joked as she sat with the other wives of the Z fighters to marvel at the baby some more. 18 didn't particularly like to admit it, but she was a softy when it came to babies, perhaps not as bad as Krillin, but still. She sat down next to Bulma and smiled at the exchange between mother and son.

"You think Marron might want to have one with Trunks for me?" Bulma chuckled to her.

"I dunno, he would have to get passed her father," she said seriously, before laughing. Krillin was not the nimble fighter he had used to be, the regular aging process of a human catching up to him in his late 40s, his black hair beginning to turn a tint of grey. Strong as he was, he would have no hope in standing up to Trunks.

Bulma giggled as well, "Oh well, I guess it will happen for those three eventually," she commented looking out at the trio joking around.

* * *

Later on at the party, after Bulma bickered at him for not socialising enough, Vegeta found his way over to Goku, Gohan and Piccolo when he was certain camera's where nowhere nearby.

"Hey Vegeta," Goku greeted him cheerfully as always.

He rolled his eyes at him, "Kakarot," his one word reply and he nodded at Gohan and Piccolo, people who graced the title of 'not being entirely disliked by the Prince of all Saiyans.'

He stood their aimlessly listening to them predict the great potential of the new arrival in the future. Gohan and Videl had agreed Hale would be able to be whatever it was he would like, a fighter, a scholar or a world martial arts champion, it didn't matter. Gohan never enjoyed everyone fighting over his future when he was a kid. He was happy his life turned out the way it did.

How many people can say they had saved the world from a vicious tyrant as well as become a prestigious professor of historic literature along with obtaining their PhD in theoretical physics.

He felt lucky with his lot in life. It was hard not to feel that way when he looked into his baby boys wide black eyes that were staring at him.

"Are you going to let me hold him?" Goku asked impatiently. Gohan handed the child to him ensuring Goku was holding him correctly, he was acting weirdly protective.

"He looks just like you did Gohan, especially with that little tail."

"Why didn't you cut it off yet?" Piccolo asked.

"We're waiting until he is 6 months old. Pan got very sick when hers got cut off so we figured he needs time to build his immune system first."

Piccolo nodded.

"You could just leave it on him and teach him not to look at the moon, you never know when a giant ape may come in handy," Vegeta said.

Gohan looked at him a little disbelievingly. He imagined the horror of his son transforming when he wasn't around and crushing Videl and Pan and anyone else nearby, "I don't think the benefits would outweigh the risks."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, he had wanted to keep Bulla's tail but Bulma thought otherwise. He thought it was a shame no one had agreed with him.

* * *

The men noticed the food beginning to be brought out via servants, and began making their way over to the seated area.

A sudden rumble shocked the Z-fighters for a moment, the tables and chairs began to rattle and the ground became unsteady. Many fell over in the process, but the ground grew steady once again shortly.

Goten reached to Marron who had fallen onto the ground and helped her up.

"What _was_ that?" she asked.

"Some kind of earth tremor I guess?" Goten replied with a shrug, it was the food that was mostly on his mind as he ran to an empty seat and dug into his meal.

* * *

The remainder of the celebrations continued on nicely, and eventually Videl and Gohan decided it was time to take Hale home to sleep. He was being passed around one last time for some to say goodbye.

Goku and Vegeta had long since disappeared into the gravity room for a sparring match right after they ate, no surprise of course. So Gohan offered his mother a lift home in their car. Many of the others had collected their things and prepared to leave.

Goten's next shift at work was shortly about to begin.  
"I suppose, I better head off, nice seeing you guys, let's do it again soon," Goten wished Marron and Trunks goodbye after he had thanked Bulma. He prepared to take off, in the direction of the West City Fire brigade.

However nothing happened. He tried to take off again, pushing his ki underneath him, but remained with his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"What?" he questioned himself. "How much did I drink?" concluding that only alcohol could impair his ability to fly, although he didn't even remember having any.

"What's wrong?" Trunks asked, when he noticed Goten's confusion.

"I… c-can't fly" Goten muttered.

"What are you talking about," Trunks asked, as he himself prepared for take-off, but failed to float into the air like he had been since he was 5.

"I don't underst-" he trailed off when he saw 'it'. He should have been able to feel the disturbance long before he saw it, but that wasn't the case.

Goten felt the ground rumble once more as he turned in the direction Trunks was staring.

That was when he saw it too.

Wide eyed, the panic began, he heard the people scream before anything else.

A gigantic wave, a tsunami, was fast approaching the inland of West city and neither boys' could fly themselves to safety. Goten looked around the spacious area that contained his closest friends and family who were only beginning to notice the danger.

"Watch out!" Trunks shouted as the earth on the lawn began to tremor deeper and split in two, separating the fear stricken group.

Marron began to scream wildly trying to run away from the splitting earth.

The hue of the sky darkened into mouldy dark blue clouds covering the light of the sun and plunging the city into a mild darkness. Goten couldn't understand, he looked around at the group who also were struggling to lift themselves into the air but no one was succeeding.

'What is happening?!'

* * *

**A/N**

_So what do you think? Continue? Kill it with fire? Let me know, Reviews pretty please!_


	2. Impact

_Thank you for those who reviewed, followed and faved, love you!_

* * *

**The Impossible**

Chapter Two – Impact

* * *

_- Moments earlier -_

"Are we done with this warm up?!" Vegeta snapped.

"400 times gravity is your warm up?" Goku asked acting surprised. He wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Oh shut up Kakarot, I know you could handle twice this level without transforming," Vegeta growled. The two had been in the outdoor gravity pod sparring in their base forms after their quantifiable meal.

Bulma had specifically taken the indoor gravity room as out of bounds today, as she knew Vegeta would escape into it for the duration of the celebrations. It was handy having the ability to adjust the codes so that the room could not be opened unless it was by her.

However she hadn't thought to lock off the outdoor gravity pod that Vegeta used to train it when he first arrived on Earth.

In the last five years, Vegeta had cut his training schedule drastically to make some more time for his family, Bulla especially. Growing up, Trunks had never pushed hard for a lot of Vegeta's attention, not that he didn't wish he would attain it. But the demi heiress was a different case. She commanded the people around her to please her every whim.

Whist he would still train for a few hours daily, Vegeta had spent a great deal more time training his daughter or taking her the various places she commanded.

The unusual relationship between father and daughter was looked on with pride from Vegeta. Whilst she may not be regarded highly in fighting ability, he cherished the moments he had with her. He had loved her from the minute she existed and her existence only brought the unconventional Briefs family together.

Goku chuckled and prepared to get serious, he too had not put a lot of focus in training himself, placing Uub and Pan higher on his priorities. A decision that seemed to be greatly paying off, realising that it was only a matter of time before Uub would surpass him and take over as the Earth's protector.

The two rivals floated into the air near the ceiling of the portable gravity pod, locked in a stand-off preparing for battle. Vegeta aimed a remote at the gravity control panel and adjusted the setting to 600 x Earth's gravity, and then tossed the remote to the ground.

"You ready?" Goku asked through a smile.

Vegeta simply narrowed his eyes. Perhaps one of the reasons he enjoyed his daughters company so much was that she was not ridiculously upbeat or disgustingly cheerful like Kakarot and the rest of the Son family.

In a flash the two charged at each other mid-air but before first contact was made they began to fall. Crashing down hard onto the floor of the pod, destroying some of the tiles in the process.

"What the!?" Vegeta shouted, unsure what Kakarot had done to him. But it wasn't Goku who had hit him, as Goku himself was flat on the floor.

The gravity felt like it was increasing, the brunt of 600x Gravity colliding onto them.

The two men began crying out in pain, feeling as if they were being crushed between two planets, unable to scramble to their feet. Their bones pressing into their vital organs an unbearable sensation threatening their lives.

Vegeta was no quitter, he began to summon all of his strength to transform into a Super Saiyan so that he could front the gravity, but the energy wasn't there. He couldn't feel his own ki, or even that of Kakarot's. He began to wonder if his comrade was dead but this was proven false as he could hear the man screaming out in pain.

Vegeta glanced from the corner of his eye at the display on the gravity controls, which still read 600x.

'But that's impossible,' he thought, there is no way 600x gravity could affect them in such a way it felt more like 6,000x.

Wondering how much longer he could sustain the immense pressure, the gravity controls began to malfunction. Smoke and sparks appeared and the LCD screen went black. Vegeta felt the pressure begin to ease as the gravity returned to normal.

"V-Vegeta?" Goku muttered as he got to his feet, "Did _you_ do that?" Wondering why his friend would increase the gravity to such an alarming rate.

Vegeta got up, ignoring the question. If the gravity machine was down, then the ki blocking mechanism would also be down. Why then, could he not feel anyone that was outside?

"I can't sense them," he said urgently getting to the door of the pod, his movements slow, slower than they had ever been before.

Goku understood, he couldn't feel anyone outside either, in fact he couldn't even feel Vegeta standing right next to him, and Vegeta's ki signature was the easiest one for him to detect from anywhere on the planet.

Vegeta pushed the door open and was greeted with the shrilling sound of their families and friends' screams.

"What's going on!?" Goku shouted.

* * *

Gohan was standing on the opposite side of the deep crevice forming in the earth to where Videl was. She was holding onto Hale and Pan was not too far away rushing to be by her mother's side.

The gap was too large to jump and Gohan couldn't manage to summon the energy to fly across.

'No?!' there was no more time they would all be hit by the impending wave and he couldn't protect them, his family.

"Videl!" he screamed out to her, contemplating attempting the suicidal leap across to her.

"Gohan!" she cried out after him, it was the last thing he heard before the impact.

* * *

Water. Giver of life. Taker of life.

* * *

The impact of the wave was the first concern as it was strong enough to knock you unconscious or worse, kill you. Whilst some of the Z fighters had managed to brace themselves against buildings or trees or anything remotely sturdy, some of them, like Videl, were out in the open, near the erupting earth, opening and splitting into a dangerous trench.

It wasn't the bone crushing force of the wave crashing onto her delicate body that hurt Videl the most, it was the utter heartbreak of feeling her baby escape the confines of her arms as she was pulled deep down under the surface, alone.

She began to swim to the surface, desperate to find her defenceless baby, but a second wave pushed her back down.

Air running low, her second attempt to reach the surface was blocked by torpedoing debris which cut her arm up as she tried to avoid the assault.

Hope would never evade a mother like Videl. On her third and final attempt she swam to the surface inhaling a life-renewing breath of air, but the horror was not over.

Treading water, she was being pulled by the wave as if it was a current. She searched desperately for Hale or Pan or Gohan, but nothing.

Unable to make her voice box work, she silently screamed to herself. Tears falling down her already wet face.

* * *

Marron pulled herself to the surface, after the second wave had pushed her down. She was cold and frightened, hoping this was just some horrible nightmare.

"Help!" she screamed, although it was stupid, she could here other victims in the distance calling out the same thing. She looked frantically around hoping to find her parents or anyone familiar but the water was still slashing against her face, impairing her vision.

"Marron," someone called from a distance.

Trunks was already exhausted from the impact but swam swiftly across the raging current to where Marron was.

"Oh Trunks, you're ok!" she screamed and grabbed hold of him for support. Without him she would likely have drowned.

Trunks could see the banks of a hilled section above ground which was not flooded in water, it was grassy and looked safe but was a reasonable distance to swim to, especially against a strong current. "Come on, we have to get to land before we are carried too far away," he instructed.

Marron was not a confident swimmer and was basically towed by Trunks the gruelling distance.

They made it to the bank but it was too steep and there was no easy way to grip it. Especially with it being so wet, it was too hard for them to pull themselves up onto the ledge.

Trunks urgently tried grasping onto the earth and pull himself and Marron to safety but was not succeeding. They were being dragged by the flowing water down the bank and Marron sliced up her hands on several tree roots before she got a good hold on one.

"I've got it," she shouted trying to pull Trunks within grasping distance also. But he slipped as the current increased in speed and was beginning to be dragged away from her.

Marron caught his hand in hers as she held onto the tree root in her spare hand.

"Quickly, pull us up," Trunks said between breaths. It was too difficult, she was not strong enough to lift both of their weights with only one hand.

She tried with all of her might but only felt Trunks slipping further from her, "I can't do it!" she cried.

Trunks noticed an iron picketed gate caught up in the debris of the current, up ahead of them. It must have been torn from someone's driveway during the impact and the sharp prongs were approaching them fast.

If they hung there, it would likely impale them both.

"Trunks?! Marron?!" Goten shouted from the banks as he rushed towards them. He must have freed himself onto the high ground from the other side and had noticed his two friends struggling to get to safety. Marron smiled largely when she saw Goten coming.

He rushed to help them out of the water. But Trunks knew he would not make it in time for them to avoid the gate.

"I'm sorry Marron," Trunks said.

"What?" she asked as she turned back to him, not understanding what was wrong.

Trunks released himself from her grip and allowed the water to carry him down the banks. Marron now with two hands free pulled herself onto the grassy ledge and with Goten's help was pulled to the safety of solid ground, seconds before the sharp iron of the gate could strike her.

"Trunks No!" she screamed as he was carried away by the water. He looked at her with what appeared to be a smile, satisfied that with what may be his last action he was able to save her.

She looked at him with utter horror and tried to run after him to save him. The iron gate charged towards him. There was no way she could reach him in time and had to look away, she couldn't watch him die.

An arm grasped the lavender haired boy by his right shoulder.

"G-Gohan?" Trunks managed as the older demi Saiyan pulled him from the watery decline.

"I've got you Trunks," he said.

* * *

Vegeta and Goku had remained inside the gravity pod when the wave first landed. They escaped into the watery rapids with minor injuries as the walls of the chamber began to crumble.

It was uncomfortable for them to not be able to fly or sense the ki of the ones they were searching for. But they were determined to rescue their families and friends.

They began to shout out various names, all falling onto deaf ears as the roar of the crashing waves had rendered the few victims around the area temporarily deafened.

They would think it should be relatively easy to find everyone, having been situated in the same area when the wave hit, however, with the earth shifting in an unusual fashion and the wave still pushing inland at a marvellous rate, their loved ones could be anywhere by now.

After their first failed attempt at finding the others, Vegeta and Goku managed to climb onto the roof of a home that had remained intact.

"Kakarot, can you fly?" Vegeta demanded, still frustrated at his own incompetence.

"No, can you?" he panted, exhausted from all the swimming.

Vegeta balled his fists, beyond frustrated at the predicament. He grabbed Goku by the collar.

"Use your instant transmission and take us to Bulma!" he yelled.

Knowing it was best to do as his friend said when the veins in his head appeared as if they were about to pop, Goku placed two fingers to his forehead, searching for Bulma's ki.

He spent a great deal of time concentrating before concluding that "It's no use, I can't find her."

Vegeta shoved him as he let go of his collar.

"We'll have to find her the old fashion way Vegeta," Goku said as he looked out at the destroyed and flooded ruins of what used to be West City. Well it was hard to tell if they were even in West city anymore, the current had carried them quite far.

"Goku?" a light muffled voice called out from the water below, followed by a serious coughing fit and desperate thrashing against the water to remain at the surface.

Goku was quick to dive in after her, knowing immediately that it was Chi-Chi. He didn't have to sense her to be able to tell that voice belonged to his wife.

She had lost her battle with remaining above the water and began to sink, drifting out of consciousness.

"Chi-Chi are you ok?" he begged, after picking her up in both of his arms and pulling her from the water. Her eyes were closed and her skin had turned the palest of whites.

She looked ghostly but he could feel her pulse and her soft beating heart. He brushed his hand through her wet hair attempting to dry her as he felt her shiver.

"Come on, I'll take you somewhere warm," he promised, fear evident in her voice as she didn't reply.

Vegeta watched the scene in a state of panic as Goku climbed Chi-Chi onto the safety of the roof, hoping for some of her energy to return.

Vegeta returned to the water filled streets. The current was slowing and seemed to begin to recede back to where the ocean had previously been. The people remaining in the flood water would be brought back out to sea, and if they were in any condition like Chi-Chi's they would likely drown.

"Bulma!?" he shouted, feeling the anger in his heart burst. This was not the way he would allow it to end.

A pale skilled female body began to float through the street and Vegeta waded towards her, pulling her in and clasping his hand at the back of her neck to look into her lifeless eyes.

It wasn't Bulma, or Bulla or anyone he had cared for. It was a young woman with short purple hair and green eyes that had no light, no direction, no life. Vegeta stared into those eyes that could have easily been the enchanting aqua ones owned by his mate and two children.

He let the woman go, and watched her float out into the abyss. A death without honour or pride.

He may have thought he had felt it before. Maybe at a time when he was to face his most fearsome competitors, or when he knew he would sacrifice himself for the earth, but he was mistaken.  
_This_ was the first time Vegeta had felt fear. Fear of what he did not know. Fear of what was the most likely truth.

* * *

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Marron shouted at Trunks after the four reunited on the safety of the solid ground.

Trunks lent over and coughed up the water he had ingested, choking for air after nearly drowning.

"Are you ok?" she asked kneeling by his side placing an arm around him, her tone changing to a gentle reassuring one. She hadn't understood why he would attempt to sacrifice himself for her. But she was eternally grateful he was rescued as well.

"Yeah," he managed to croak out. Marron felt herself begin to cry, cry at what could have happened to her best friend, what might have actually happened to everyone else she cared about.

Trunks pulled her into his arms and allowed her to try onto his shoulder as he slowing caught back his breath.

"Gohan?" Goten asked, "Do you have any idea what just happened?"

Gohan shook his head, his eyes filled with worry, "Have you seen any of the others?"

"No, I'm sorry" Goten frowned, he had managed to escape the brutality of the impact and make it to land quickly but it may have not been the case for everyone else. He could feel his brothers anguish.

Gohan balled his fists tight, 'if only I had of been standing with Videl' he thought to himself, feeling tears beg to fall from his eyes.

Goten placed a hand on his older brothers shoulder, "We'll find them," he said with utter certainty.

* * *

**A/N**

_-Bit of a full on chapter, hope you are enjoying. Please pop a review, even if you didn't. I have great plans for this story so I will certainly finish it and I will attempt to update weekly._

_-To the __**Guest**__ who asked about Mai, sorry but it will be a little too confusing to introduce her into a story like this, but I'm glad you are enjoying her in my other story. I will probably eventually write a fic about her specifically so keep an eye out._


	3. Strength in Numbers

**The Impossible**

Chapter Three - Strength in Numbers

* * *

Trunks had finally caught back his breath after nearly drowning. He thought about asking the one question he knew neither Marron, Goten nor Gohan would have the answer to. A glance was all he needed to exchange with Goten to profess his query.

He simply responded with a shrug and a shake of the head. He too had no idea what had just happened. And why they were suddenly unable to fly themselves to safety.

"This is just some horrible dream isn't it?" Marron mumbled not looking any of them in the eye as she struggled to tie a piece of fabric she ripped from her scarf around her hand where she had several minor cuts.

Trunks took the ends of the fabric from her and retied it properly after seeing her struggle to complete the tack that required two hands. She smiled lightly in thanks but returned to her fretting.

Gohan appeared to be a little too distraught to make any comment. He just sat on the grass like a statue, running through every detail in his mind, wondering where he went wrong and what he could have done. Goten had been counting on him to know what happened and what they should do next. But it was obvious he was going to be of no help.

After his brothers silence Goten decided that it would fall on his own shoulders to take charge.

"Ok, let's start with what we do know," he announced gathering their attention.

"There was a rumble in the ground around 2 hours prior to the wave hitting, which itself preceded the splitting of the earth."

"That's right," Marron agreed, remembering the crevice forming in the ground that she almost fell into.

"And Pan and I flew in late to the party, only a little before that first tremor, so our powers must have went away during that 2 hour gap," Goten concluded.

"What are you saying?" Marron questioned.

"Maybe us losing our powers and the weird environmental occurrences are linked together," he responded.

"I guess it's logical, but I don't see why it would make sense. Our powers aren't usually connected to our environments and the Saiyans have been able to fly on many different planets in many different environment. The gravity is the only element that makes a difference, I guess," said Trunks.

"So maybe there was some massive shift in gravity that caused the earthquake and tsunami?" Marron suggested.

"If the gravity was affected so much to render us flightless then there would be no way Marron could sustain it, no offence," Goten pointed out.

She growled at the insult but knew it was true.

"What do you think happened Gohan?" Goten asked, knowing his brother was far more intelligent than he, and would have a better idea.

Gohan's eyebrows creased together as he changed the subject, "Who was on our side of the split when the tsunami came?"

Marron could only remember that she was with Goten and Trunks when the earth started splitting and she just ran for it after that, she hadn't even realised the wave was coming until it hit her.

"Dad and Vegeta were in the Gravity pod, which was on our side, I think?" Goten recalled.

"Yes it was," Trunks agreed, "And I think Chi-Chi was on our side too, she just said goodbye to us just before the ground started splitting, remember Marron?"

"Yes that's right," Marron remembered, "Then she was heading to your car to put away her things," she told Gohan.

"Everyone else must have been on the opposite side," Gohan said, thinking back. He clenched his fist, remembering Pan running to pull Videl away from the edge of the earth.

Goten pulled out his mobile phone from his pocket, finding that it was dead. Most likely destroyed by the submersion.

"That's a good idea," Trunks said, "Everyone check your phones and empty your pockets."

"My phones dead," Goten sighed, but pulled everything else out of his pockets.

"Well I guess you don't have the latest Samsung 9, completely waterproof and shockproof," he chuckled a little, feeling the need to break the tension with a little joke. Trunks pulled out a phone that was not even on the market yet, the kind only rich people with technological connections could get their hands on.

"Do you have a signal?" Marron asked, hopeful.

"Nope," he sighed disappointed, "Phone and internet lines are all down."

The Samsung 9 however downloads information as it happens, and stores it. Trunks checked the latest news page to see what was happening and if there was any information on the earth tremor or the tsunami.

There was, he found pictures that had been uploaded from the other side of the world, depicting mass bushfires that were ablaze and a storming tornado that was approaching. The photos were uploaded some 4-8 minutes before the signal was cut.

"A rescue helicopter will come get us soon, but we better see if Mom, Dad and Vegeta are around, and look for the others too," Goten said as he prepared to get back in the receding water to search for everyone else.

"Guys," Trunks interrupted, "I don't think that a rescue helicopter will be coming."

"Why?" Marron and Goten asked at once.

"I-I think this is happening all over the world," he stammered.

He handed his phone to Goten and Marron who were dumbstruck as they scrolled through the horrifying images from the other side of the planet.

* * *

Videl had latched herself onto a medium sized tree trunk that appeared to protrude from a small river. The water was receding back to the ocean from which it came, and soon there would hopefully be dry land she could stand on.

Her left arm was severely injured with cuts that were open to the un-sanitised water that gushed past her pulling at the skin.

She struggled but eventually climbed halfway up the tree and onto a strong branch, where she waited. She wasn't sure what for, to catch her breath? To be told what to do? To die?

She didn't know, but she waited. She kept calling for her children and for her husband but neither call was responded to.

Videl rarely cried, even when she was a hormonal pregnant mess, she didn't cry. She was too tough for that. But even she couldn't handle waiting around, alone, not knowing if she would see her family again.

She tried to remember back thoroughly to where everyone was before the wave hit. She remembered clutching onto Hale with one arm and reaching out to Pan with the other. She didn't remember making any contact with the girl.

Gohan was on the other side of the crevice, but he looked like he was prepared to jump over to her.

'Gohan must have made the jump, and he has Hale and Pan,' Videl repeated to herself over and over until she made herself believe it was true.

It was the only thing stopping her from simply dying right there and then from a broken heart.

The tree Videl had been clinging to started to fall. The pressure of the wave causing it to buckle at the roots. She clenched her body around the trunk harder fearing she would be thrown back into the water.

"Hello!" she heard someone calling in a distance.

Her eyes widened in hope that it would be Gohan.

"I'm over here!" She screamed back to the voice she swore she knew.

The tree fell another foot towards the water and Videl yelped, it was at an angle gentle enough for her to climb over to the other side, to the dry land, but she was far too frightened she would fall back into the water.

The man who had called to her appeared at the end of the tree ushering her to make the climb over.

"Come on Videl, grab my hand," Krillin called to her leaning as far in to her as he could.

As she began to unlatch herself so she could scurry over the tree fell forward once more, the head of it hitting the other side like a bridge.

She jolted forward, nearly slipping but was caught by Krillin who had climbed onto the trunk.

Gathering her up in his arms he slowly guided her off the trunk, his impeccable sense of balance obviously untarnished by the strange absence of powers.

"Are you ok?" Krillin asked Videl who was shaking.

Of course she wasn't ok.

* * *

A blonde woman limped her way across the muddy terrain away from the flood water that had dragged her a good distance out to sea.

She sat down in the mud, panting, unable to continue. She searched her memories for some understanding of where she was or what had just happened, coming up blank.

She examined her right arm. It was badly bruised and dislocated from her shoulder, no wonder moving was so painful. She attempted to put it back in place, but merely touching it was painful enough. She let out an audible cry.

"18?" a voice called from a large tree.

The woman glanced up the bare trees that had been stripped of their green leaves. A middle aged man climbed down and began walking towards her.

"Get AWAY from me!" she shrieked.

"18? It's me, Yamcha," he gently told her.

Yamcha had managed to climb himself to the safety of the tree branch when the wave first hit. He had remained there in a daze for some time, as he was drifting in and out of consciousness.

He couldn't understand why he wasn't able to fly. He had even attempted to fire an energy wave at the tsunami in a hope to redirect it away from himself and his friends but he had failed.

"I don't know any Yamcha, STAY BACK," she scrambled away, wincing again from placing weight onto her arm as she pushed herself off the ground with her hands.

Yamcha stood still understanding that she saw him as a threat. He assumed she was simply struggling to remember him, she may have been a little spaced out due to the impact.

"18, it's me, we're friends remember, I've known your husband since he was a child. I'm your daughter's godparent," he put his hands up showing her he was not trying to hurt her.

"I-I don't have a husband…" she stammered, feeling a sharp pain in her head as her memory became fuzzy.

"18," Yamcha began again as he stepped forward.

"Why do you keep saying that number? Stay where you are. What did you do to me?" she panicked as she looked over her battered body with her clothes all torn. She had no recollection of the wave at all, and was confused at why she was so wet.

Yamcha stood frozen and confused. It wasn't as if he had any clue what was going either. But he at least knew who he was and had some grasp on what had happened. He was even confident that Goku would soon find them and explain what the hell was going on.

"Your _name_ is 18, Android 18, remember?" he gently told her, "Are you ok 18?"

18's hands began to tremble, "A-Android?" She looked completely frightened, if her skin could have paled it would've.

"You don't remember?" Yamcha questioned feeling a little startled.

She pulled her hand to her face in an attempt to hold back her sobs, the information was just too much to receive at once. However, when she moved her arm she grimaced from the pain and stumbled backwards trying to steady herself.

Yamcha rushed to her side, examining her damaged arm. It looked pretty bad but he had a fairly good idea of how to pop it back into place.

He looked up her arm to her neck and noticed something worse. Blood was dripping from her head down her neck, and there was a lot of it.

A visible patch of her skull just behind her ear was severely damaged, her skin all around the area was stained pink from the bleeding. It looked really bad.

"Stay away from me," she repeated, attempting to flee when she retained her balance.

"18, I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Just let me get you some help, I think you may have suffered a head injury."

"That's not my name…" she screamed in frustration.

"Do you know what your name is then?"

But she didn't and felt the tears escape her eyes. Yamcha wasn't aware she was even capable of crying. She was more human than he ever thought.

* * *

Gohan began making a mental list of the people he hoped his family were with.

It went something like this.

His Dad

Piccolo

Vegeta

Well, Vegeta only made spot number three when he knew Goten was out.

"Gohan?" Goten repeated

"What?" Gohan snapped back to reality.

"Empty your pockets," Goten commanded, taking charge of the situation.

Gohan did so, and put the contents on a tree stump where the others had placed their items. He shuddered a bit when he placed down a spare pacifier he had kept in his pocket.

Together they had: Three wallets with money, cards and receipts; A nail file and polish kit which contained a small pair of scissors: Four phones, with only one being able to turn on although the battery was running low; Three candy bars; Two pens; A pacifier; and in total 4 capsules.

They opened them all.

One of them contained Goten's fireproof uniform, he instructed Trunks to swap out of his dress shoes for the Fire boots immediately.

They had discussed the potential of another wave coming and decided it would be best for them all to head inland as far as they could.

Trunks was not going to get far if he was going to walk through the ruins in his fancy black thin leather loafers. Luckily the rest of them were wearing rather comfortable walking shoes.

"Guess I owe Bulla for making me switch ey?" Marron said, which only made Trunks frown. He tried to remember if Bulla was outside during the wave and if she was on their side of the crevice or not. Nothing came to mind. He hadn't paid her a second of attention after she embarrassed him with her whole, 'you're not wearing those out here.' He felt guilty for giving her such a hard time now though.

The rest of Goten's uniform would probably come in handy seeing as they were all basically in fragmented rags.

Another capsule contained a high tech bassinette the kind that wouldn't allow you to capsulize your baby by accident. The bassinette had the ability to float in the air, but it ran off a wireless power source. It of course was down, and the bassinette failed to hover.

The third capsule contained documents on the legal presentation Trunks was to present to his business team on Monday. He hadn't quite finished writing them up and thus was carrying his work with him for whenever he got a moment to work on them.

A large stack of papers was not particularly useful, but may come in handy if they were trying to light a fire or something like that.

The last capsule was unfortunately empty, a simple storage device. Gohan had planned on using it to carry all of the gifts his friends had bought for Hale home with him.

Trunks cursed himself for not grabbing a car or plane capsule, or even a portable house capsule, that would really come in handy. Although like the bassinette it was likely that some of those items wouldn't be able to work anyway. It was a flawed feature in Capsule technology that a lot of the inventions ran off the Capsule power server. And like the internet and phone lines, this server must have been down.

The dreary navy blue of the sky began to further darken, dusk was approaching and it seemed a storm was lurking in the air waiting to unleash itself.

"We better get moving," Trunks said, "We need to move inland as far as we can and find some shelter. Another wave could come at any minute."

Goten nodded and looked to Gohan for his opinion.

"They're smart Gohan, they'll know to head inland as well, we will probably find them on our way," Goten reassured, extending his hand towards his older brother.

Gohan nodded, accepting the hand up, "Ok, let's move."

* * *

Bulla coughed up all the water she had unfortunately ingested during the onslaught. She knelt on the forest floor, surrounded by fallen trees and unearthed vegetation as she tried to regain a normal breathing pattern.

The darkness of the sky made everything difficult to see as she looked around for her father.

"DAD!" she shouted in agitation. Strangely, she was not frightened and all by the situation. She was more annoyed that she didn't know what was going on.

"Bulla, is that you?" a soft voice called from within the forest.

Bulla slowly moved to the location of the voice to find Pan attempting to drag a big green body out of the flowing water.

"Can you give me a hand?" Pan uttered focusing on the failing rescue attempt.

Bulla was a little shocked Pan needed help to lift such a weight, but understood her difficulty when she grabbed the Namek's other arm and assisted pulling his heavy body out of the water and onto the muddy banks. It took almost all of her strength and energy to accomplish, which didn't make any sense.

"Mr Piccolo?" Pan called as she nudged the Namek lightly attempting to wake him up.

Pan knelt at his side, very concerned that he was still knocked out as Bulla stood and watched the scene still agitated.

"Where is everyone?" Bulla growled.

"I don't know," a slight choke was evident in Pan's voice, "My mom was right next to me when the wave came but I couldn't find her when I resurfaced."

Pan was feeling quite emotional and worried, "Are you ok Bulla, you're not injured are you?"

Bulla checked herself over, she was fine, only a few minor scrapes. Her clothes however were not fine, they were torn, sopping wet and stained with mud.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Bulla replied.

"I think I might have stuffed my knee, it really hurts," Pan whined but turned her attention back to Piccolo.

Bulla felt like telling her to stop complaining but her attention was interrupted by a gargling sound in the distance. Someone was by the banks several metres ahead trying to free themselves from the water flow.

"I'll go check on that, you stay here with him," Bulla ordered, pointing to Piccolo.

Pan complied, trying to turn Piccolo into the recovery position so that the air could flow back unobstructed, into his lungs. He was very heavy to manoeuvre and Pan didn't seem to have any of her usual strength.

Bulla rushed to the sound of flailing in the water and a boy shouting out for assistance. Once she was closer, she realised it was Uub.

"Uub?" she called, slight annoyance in her voice.

"Hello?" he called back, unsure who was there.

"Stop messing around, and get out from there."

"Don't you think I would have done so if I could? Who is that?" he called back. As he continued struggling at the river banks.

"It's me Bulla, Are you blind?" she responded even more annoyed. She moved closer to help him out only to notices the redness in his eyes. "Uhh, you aren't actually blind are you?"

"Just help me out, I can't find the edge," his voice was urgent.

She was reluctant, thinking this was some kind of joke. Uub was like the 3rd greatest fighter on the planet, destined to reach number one. There was no way he should need her help. Bulla hadn't properly grasped the understanding that he also was unable to use any of his powers.

She reached for his arm and pulled him out, where he collapsed onto his back, breathing heavily.

"Th-Thank-You" he responded, as if manners were of utmost importance at the moment.

"Are you ok?" she asked lightly, examining him for any injuries. He seemed fine.

"I think I got struck in the eyes, I can't open them all the way," he said rubbing at them harshly.

"Let me see," she said, as he sat up and tried to open them as much as possible.

She moved in closer and examined his eyes. She had previously noted how white his eyes used to glow in contrast to his dark skin but now they were a deep shade of red, most likely due to him rubbing at them. She placed her hand on his face and her thumb on his eyelid.

"Does that hurt?"

"No" he replied.

She applied a little pressure and he winced. She lifted his eyelid up revealing a bad red botch in the white of his eye. The same was present in his other one. It was likely that he had damage in both of his corneas.

"Looks like your eyes were scratched out. Do you remember what happened?" Bulla asked as she pulled her hand away.

"All these tree branches just kept coming at me when I swam to the surface," he recalled.

"Oh well, a senzu bean will fix that, or you can just go to Dende," Bulla concluded matter of factly, "Now come on, Pan and Piccolo are this way, have you seen anyone else?"

He was silent.

"Yeah ok, I guess you haven't," she smirked a little at the irony. She began walking away before realising he wasn't following.

"What are you doing? Hurry up?" she demanded, impatiently.

"I can't tell where I'm going, I can't even sense my surroundings," he admitted a little embarrassed.

Bulla rolled her eyes at her bad luck and walked back to him grabbing his arm to direct him the way to go, "Just walk behind me ok?"

Uub smiled at her Vegeta-like attitude, "Yes Ma'am."

"Look who I found," Bulla announced stoically when she arrived back to Pan and a now conscious Piccolo.

"Uub, you're ok!" Pan gleamed, glad her friend was alive.

"Hey Pan," Uub called in a direction nowhere close to Pan.

Bulla face-palmed, "Use your ears idiot," she grumbled.

Piccolo choked out some more water and then summoned the strength to get to his feet.

"Mr Piccolo, maybe you should just sit down and rest first," Pan suggested, ushering the green giant to be seated.

"No Pan, we are still in danger," his first response.

"W-What do you mean?" she asked.

"Another wave could come along any minute, and it looks like we have been dragged out very far by the receding tide," It didn't take Piccolo long to pick up on his surroundings and the impending danger, even if he couldn't use his ki sensing abilities.

"But the rescue choppers will pick us up soon, _if _they make it here before my Dad that is," Bulla concluded.

Piccolo just shook his head, he knew that the situation was far worse than these minors had imagined.

"I'll try to contact Gohan," Piccolo said and focused his mind on the telepathic link he had shared with his closest friend for many years. Without being able to sense his ki, he could not make the telepathic connection.

"What did he say?" Pan asked hopeful, wanting to hear from her father.

"I couldn't find him," Piccolo responded with a sympathetic frown. He did not want to upset the kid although it couldn't be helped.

Pan began panicking, "W-What does that mean? Is he, Is he-"

"Dead?" Bulla finished for her, her eyebrow arching. Piccolo turned and gave the girl a glare as Pan immediately started crying.

"What is wrong with you?" Uub whispered. Bulla seemingly had no empathy for the situation.

"Oh, shut up, she's just being a baby. Pan, Gohan is fine. And my Dad will come and get us any minute now so just wait ok."

Pan didn't let up her wailing, the whole situation was too much for the 10 year old to bear, especially without her mother and father.

"Pan," Piccolo said as he knelt down to her level and looked her in the eye.

"You can't sense my energy can you?" he questioned and allowed her to try focus on it.

"You're concealing it," she replied.

"No I'm not," he assured.

"… then no, I guess I can't" he sighed, thinking that there was something wrong with her.

"And I'm alive see"

"mmhmm"

"So, even though I can't sense Gohan's energy, he is still alive. Do you understand?"

Pan nodded but the tears were still silently falling.

Glad he could shut her up, Piccolo looked around the area and noted the angle at which the trees had fallen due to the impact.

He decided they should walk in the direction the trees were pointed towards, to move away from the ocean. And further inland.

"We need to start moving," Piccolo announced.

Uub nodded trusting the Namek's judgement, but he was apprehensive about having to travel without the proper use of his vision.

"No! We're not going anywhere!" Bulla exclaimed.

"If Vegeta was coming to get you he would have done it by now," Piccolo shouted back to the teen which startled her a bit. She didn't know what he was trying to say. Was her dad even alive? She shuddered at the thought but was unable to dismiss the Namek's words.

"Now you are all going to shut up and listen to me. I will not be your baby sitters is that clear? Now, if we don't keep moving we could all die!" he declared.

Piccolo started moving certain that they would all follow. He would make sure he would bring Gohan back his daughter, if it was the last thing he'd do.

* * *

Vegeta and Goku remained on the rooftop until the tide completely receded away and the torn up ground was visible. Vegeta had remained in the water checking all the people that floated through. Some were barely alive and he pulled them to the safety of the other rooftops. But none of them were members of his family or, as Bulma would call them, his 'friends'

Goku held onto Chi-Chi tightly, feeling her heart rate slow down, her breathing becoming fast and shallow. He hugged her in closely to share some of his body warmth. He had never seen her in such a condition and it worried him.

Vegeta returned to the rooftop where Goku was holding his wife. He was panting, exhausted from a task that should have been nothing.

"I can't find them, any of them," he said stoically, not that he had given up, he would never give up.

"Chi-Chi, I will be right back, ok, just hang tight," Goku placed her gently on the roof so that she was lying down flat. Her face was pale and her eyelids darkened.

Goku rose up to stand by Vegeta.

"My instant transmission still isn't working," he said.

"Gahh, Why haven't the damn Kai's told us what is happening," Vegeta growled.

"I didn't think of that," Goku's eyes widened. "KING KAI?" he called to the sky. Goku was slightly distracted by the disgusting moulded dark blue colouring of the sky for a moment before focusing on contacting King Kai again.

"KING KAI!?" he called louder as if volume was the reason he was going unheard.

Nothing…

Angry, Vegeta suggested they should test their strength. They may have lost their ability to fly, to manipulate and sense ki and to transform into super Saiyans. But did they still have super human strength, endurance and enhanced senses?

Instead of warning him of his test Vegeta simply struck Goku in his upper chest as hard as he could manage with a closed fist.

"OW, what the hell was that for?" Goku demanded as he grasped his chest where the tissue already felt pained. It shouldn't have hurt as much as it did, yet at the same time it was not strong enough to send him flying away. A punch from Vegeta usually would.

"So, what you are saying to me Kakarot, is this. We are stuck here, the two of us with your harpy, without any of the abilities I have worked myself to death my entire life to perfect. With no communication to anyone who has a clue what is going on?!"

He was reaching boiling point, Goku stood up and narrowed his eyes at him. He knew how to reassure Vegeta, it wasn't with comfort or kindness or affection. He merely needed to be told where he stood, with blunt honesty.

"Vegeta, I don't know what has happened to our powers, but wherever they've gone, they will surely come back. If they weren't going to then surely we would have some form of warning, we always receive a warning. And, if there are any lives lost… We can simply wish everyone back with the dragonballs."

"And how are we going to do that without a dragon radar, or the ability to fly."

Goku thought for a moment, Vegeta had a good point.

"NIMBUS!" he called out! But was not met with the yellow floating cloud that would usually come to the call of its name. He repeated the call a few times but the floating cloud never came.

The Nimbus was out, however other modes of transport flashed through his mind.

There was Icarus, a flying dinosaur friend of Gohan's, animals were slow but could be tamed to fly single passengers, Goten particularly was great at taming flying dinosaurs when he was young.

Finding the dragonballs might be slow but it could be done, although glancing around Goku hadn't noticed any wildlife at all, wondering if they had all predicted this event and fled inland.

Mr Popo also had a magic carpet, however he and Dende were on the lookout at the time of the party, opting to skip the celebrations for more pressing issues. Another thought flashed through his mind.

"Do you think whatever that wave was, it only hit West City?" Goku questioned.

Vegeta hoped so, following Goku's thoughts, if Dende was killed in the impact the dragonball search would be redundant.

"You'd think rescue copters would be here by now would you not?" Vegeta replied

Goku was a man of hope, he had to assume that Dende was alive, that the dragon radar was intact where ever it was and that there was some means of travelling the earth to find the balls.

"Where does Bulma keep the dragon radar, we should go get it right away," Goku urged.

"Kakarot, how am I supposed to know!?" Vegeta shouted, realising his stupidity for not bothering to ask for its location in the past. It was always possible that he could be a sole survivor from an unexpected threat and when it would come to hunting the dragonballs to wish everyone back, he would have no idea where the contraption is or how to use it. What use were the dragonballs if you could not track them down?

Goku scanned around, trying to find the Capsule Corp building, it was nowhere to be seen. Either it was destroyed, and likely the dragon radar went with it, or they had been carried a great distance away and had no sense in direction to find it.

The sky began to darken, as heavy storm clouds clustered together threatening to rain.

Goku collected Chi-Chi from the roof and lifted her into his arms like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold. Rain would only worsen her condition.

"We could go back that way and risk getting caught up in that storm to look for the radar or we can head inland where it will be safer, we'll find some shelter and figure this out in the morning."

Vegeta looked at Chi-Chi and the fear in Goku's eyes, "We're not going back for that radar, we won't need it. The woman can just make another one," Vegeta ordered. Goku wouldn't dare suggest there was anything wrong with that statement as he climbed off of the roof carefully keeping Chi-Chi close where he could listen to her breathe.

"I'll get you better soon Chi," he whispered.

"Th-The baby?" she mumbled out.

"Don't worry about it hon, he'll be with Gohan and Goten and Pan and Videl. They're all ok, I'll bring you back to them, I promise."

"I, love you Goku"

Goku felt angry, realising she was saying her goodbyes, "Just rest," he held her in closer, fearing if he responded in the same manner it may be the last thing she would hear from him.

* * *

**A/N**

_-So just a little heads up: I've tried to keep this fic as canon as possible but I've had to write out a few characters. Dr and Mrs Briefs as well as the Ox King have previously passed away from old age. And Majin Buu (fat Buu) has been absorbed by Uub, for reasons unspecified. Thus, these characters are not in this fic…_

_-So, the Z gang have found their way into little groups and are heading inland, hope you like the choices I've made in the groupings. But where is baby Hale? And what about Bulma? Who else is missing? Mr Satan? And what about Dende? Android 18 can't remember her name or marriage. The dragon radar may be lost. Piccolo is stuck babysitting the minors. And Chi-Chi is in pretty bad condition…_

_-I guess you will all have to stay tuned to find out what will happen next :) and pretty please shoot me a REVIEW_


End file.
